Sunday, August 28, 2011

GNOCCHI 8-28

With Patience out of town I thought I would try my hand (s) at making gnocchi, aka, potato dumplings. To my consternation every reference I encountered provided a different recipe for the dough, although they all agreed on the basic ingredients…potatoes, flour, and eggs. Agreeing on the ratio of these ingredients was another matter. In addition, half of the recipes called for salt and olive oil and the other half turned up their noses at such heresy.

So what is a guy to do….select the simplest recipe to start with and go from there, which is what I did.

INGREDIENTS:

One large Russet potato
One cup of flour
One large egg

Olive oil
Fresh basil coarsely chopped

salt and pepper
Fresh lemon juice

PROCESS:

Boil the potato for about 45 minutes, cool and peel. Pass through a ricer into large bowl. Add the the flour and egg and begin mixing with fork, then working with hands until a ball of dough is formed. should only take about 4-5 minutes.
Add flour if needed to keep dough from sticking.

Take a piece of the dough about the size of a plum and roll out a rope a little less than an inch thick. Cut off 1 inch sections, then roll them with the tiines to a fork. You may need more flour if things are too sticky. Set the pieces aside on a floured surface until finished.

The “sauce” tonight was warmed olive oil with fresh basil and lemon juice.

Place the gnocchi in boiling water and remove with a slotted spoon as they float to the surface…only about 2-3 minutes…and place in the sauce.

COMMENTS:

Although my dough was too sticky, making it more difficult to use the fork to create the classic groves of gnocchi, it cooked just fine. I would add more flour next time. Also, I will add salt to the next batch I make.